Let the holidays begin.

We visited the Johnson farm a week before Thanksgiving

& grandma had a good plan in mind for the boys.

Pulling them in their sleds behind the ranger.

They loved it!

Christmas decorations are up in our house & it felt so good 

coming home from Thanksgiving & having it all done

so we could just sit by the fireplace & enjoy Christmas shows!

The boys stayed up late looking through all of their ornaments 

& the next morning after I got the lights on

they were able to put them on the tree.

They apparently were all strategically placed

so when I moved a few up the tree

(so the top was not bare)

there was panic in the house!

It was Vance's turn to put the angel on the top of the tree this year

(with a little bit of dad's help).

Then Adler & Brock made some crafty ornaments 

& Vance put together a nativity bracelet

(that boy LOVES bracelets & wears at least 3 every day!).

After all that hard work, they settled into the couch for a Christmas movie.

I just love this time of year!

My parents watched the boys the day after Thanksgiving

so Luke & I could go shopping!

It was a laid back nice morning with NO kids.

When we got back to their house that afternoon we took off for Turck's Trees

for a tractor ride & some apple cider.

The boys were really anxious to see Santa's reindeer!

The Saturday following Thanksgiving we also had the Johnson Christmas.

at the Viking Room at Emmaus.

We ate lots of food, visited with Santa, opened gag gifts from Grandma

& others played games & watched tv in the fireplace room.

I sadly was not feeling the best, so we went home early.

Spending 2 nights away from home while being very pregnant is not the best idea!

Great grandma Elois had a good time 

sorting all the gifts for the great grandchildren!

My boys can barely wait for this day to come every year.

They love the gifts she gives them...

you know the 25 cent nick nack junk, probably even freebies! 

You see us all smiling?

It's because one is wearing used sunglasses
with some random business logo on the side,

another boy is wearing pink snow goggles
(that we are calling coral for the sake of the poor kid),

& the old used trucks that they all got!

Luke made a haulin with this lovely red chef hat

& Adler's favorite gift was the broken snow ball shooter

(to which we had a minor meltdown until it was fixed with some 

sewing elastic at home)!

Santa showed up & the boys were just amazed.

Vance loved Santa (which was a big surprise to us).

Vance never left grandpa Wayne alone!

Our family.

We'll see if I even make it to the Christmas festivities this year.

Thanksgiving was enough to put me under....

& the baby will be coming very shortly

after the holiday.

Birthdays!

My older boys turned 5 & 7 recently.

Their request was for a candy birthday cake

which I loved, because it's so easy to buy their favorite candies

& dump them ontop of the cake!

I even let them decorate their own cake this year.

It might not have been the most wonderful cake for adults,

but all the kids loved eating gummy bears, skittles, & everything else

they put ontop of it! haha

See their excitement.

Like every year, the boys had a combined family birthday party

since their birthday's are close to one another.

Family showed up, they opened gifts, ate tons of Pizza Ranch, chips, mac n cheese

& lots of cupcakes & cake!

And since I was not too ambitious this year 

ordering a bunch of pizzas was wonderful!!!!

(Might just have to do that every year)

So happy to get a guns!

Boys, boys, boys.

Vance thoroughly enjoyed Aubrea's company at the party!

They just smiled & starred at each other.

Cake time.

Happy Birthday my sweet boys.

On Adler's true birthdate he woke up & wanted a morning party,

so he was able to open gifts right away!

Brock gave him a Frozen calculator/notepad/pencil package

& all the boys got to open their very own drill this year.

Adler couldn't wait for his....since real tools are what he wants now.

Adler told our friend Rob that he wanted to go to Airmaxx for his birthday,

& how lucky he was that Rob said he would bring all of us!

Grandpa & Grandma Johnson, along with Gabe met us at Airmaxx

& followed us home to go swimming later.

It was a day full of fun!

Vance & Gabe playing shooting games at Airmaxx.

Swimming with dad at Monticello Community Center.

Halloween.

This year the older boys were turtles

& Vance decided to be Woody!

That darn Woody costume makes me laugh every time 

one of the boys puts it on.

Like every year, I took the boys trick-or-treating to all the 

Monticello downtown businesses the night before Halloween.

It was a riot & the boys had a good time.

The next night was Halloween & they couldn't wait 

for dad to get home so they could start collecting candy around the neighborhood.

And I was happy to stay in the big van & chauffeur everyone around!

After about an hour their bags were full

so we headed into town to a friends house for soup & drinks.

It was another fun year...with another trick-or-treater joining the crew next year!

Fun in the Fall.

We got the chance to watch Ingrid & Nels one afternoon

& the boys loved it.

They played & played until they couldn't anymore.

Zooming around the garage until their dad came to pick them up.

Luke & Nels.

Adler had a 'race day' at school 

& parents were lucky enough to be invited to watch.

Little did Luke know that parents were encouraged to run with their kids

so he had to join Adler running in his work shoes!

Then it was tug-of-war time.  

Dad & Brock were pulling against Adler & his classmates.

Grandma & Grandpa came over to visit 

& grandma graciously let the boys bury her in their leaf pile.

We found out later that night that she also buried her phone in the pile! haha

Great aunt Camy dropped off a roll of paper for the boys to play with

which kept them busy for hours!

Adler practice shooting with his new red rider gun he got from Uncle Joe & Aunt Erin.

He's got a pretty good aim!

We often find Olivia ruffing up and laying on our coats.

She is some dog!

Guns, guns & more guns!

Adler's "Harvest Hodown" concert.

He surprised all of us and sang every song & even played the tambourine!

Helping mom vacuum!

Adler officially moved up to the real vacuum

& takes pride in making sure its done right

(which for mom that means NO running into woodwork!).